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Be authentic

by tdhurst · 8 comments

Be authentic. If you’re a bit crazy, get looney. If you’re happy-go-lucky, skip from meeting to meeting.

It matters. We want to trust you. Clients want to trust you. Surprises are good, but not at the expense of who you are.

Don’t stray too far from your roots. No one expects Coke to have MtnDew style ads. We don’t want Banana Republic to get edgy. We certainly don’t want our web registrars to get sexy (I’m looking at you, GoDaddy).

Swear if you have to. Holding back is for pussies.

This is why everyone loves Virgin products.

Richard Branson doesn’t sell products, he shares his dreams.

Tagged as: authenticity, honesty, I rule and so do you, transparency

  • http://derekneighbors.com/ Derek Neighbors

    Tyler,

    I might be mis-reading your message here, but if you were trying to slam GoDaddy for not being themselves I think you have it all wrong. I think GoDaddy is actually one of the few companies that is pretty authentic. From everything I have ever seen from Bob Parson’s, half naked hot chicks and brash in your face marketing has always fit his persona. I think his board of directors and others hate that GoDaddy (a domain registrar) advertises more like a tobacco or alcohol company, but that’s just Bob being Bob.

    I think we can agree that the marketing doesn’t seem to fit, but I don’t think I can agree that it’s a good example of a company being inauthentic.

    –
    Derek

  • http://derekneighbors.com Derek Neighbors

    Tyler,

    I might be mis-reading your message here, but if you were trying to slam GoDaddy for not being themselves I think you have it all wrong. I think GoDaddy is actually one of the few companies that is pretty authentic. From everything I have ever seen from Bob Parson’s, half naked hot chicks and brash in your face marketing has always fit his persona. I think his board of directors and others hate that GoDaddy (a domain registrar) advertises more like a tobacco or alcohol company, but that’s just Bob being Bob.

    I think we can agree that the marketing doesn’t seem to fit, but I don’t think I can agree that it’s a good example of a company being inauthentic.

    –
    Derek

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    Derek – good point. Yes, it’s their marketing that doesn’t fit. I swear if GoDaddy was renamed Bob Parson’s Awesome Registrar (go with me here), the marketing/ads would fit like a glove. Most people don’t KNOW Parsons, so all we see is a registrar with sexy ads that don’t make sense.

    Perhaps if we knew Parson like we know Branson or Cuban, their advertising would make more sense.

  • http://www.tylerhurst.com tdhurst

    Derek – good point. Yes, it’s their marketing that doesn’t fit. I swear if GoDaddy was renamed Bob Parson’s Awesome Registrar (go with me here), the marketing/ads would fit like a glove. Most people don’t KNOW Parsons, so all we see is a registrar with sexy ads that don’t make sense.

    Perhaps if we knew Parson like we know Branson or Cuban, their advertising would make more sense.

  • http://www.projectmadness.wordpress.com/ Moriya Beck

    What’s funny is that buying domains at GoDaddy is just as addictive as tobacco and/or Alcohol. I’ve seriously blown $50 in one sitting buying domains because of the random ideas that I often get. For example: I own a domain called phattypantz.com… what the hell will I ever do with that domain name? Something cool one day probably… but that’s not the point…. guess my post was more directed to Derek’s observation, that GoDaddy ‘advertises more like a tobacco or alcohol company…’

    Regardless, I love that you all engage so well in these posts. Great conversations!

  • http://www.projectmadness.wordpress.com Moriya Beck

    What’s funny is that buying domains at GoDaddy is just as addictive as tobacco and/or Alcohol. I’ve seriously blown $50 in one sitting buying domains because of the random ideas that I often get. For example: I own a domain called phattypantz.com… what the hell will I ever do with that domain name? Something cool one day probably… but that’s not the point…. guess my post was more directed to Derek’s observation, that GoDaddy ‘advertises more like a tobacco or alcohol company…’

    Regardless, I love that you all engage so well in these posts. Great conversations!

  • Mikey

    I don’t know about you guys, but I am never drinking water again. “Water is from the toilet!”

  • Mikey

    I don’t know about you guys, but I am never drinking water again. “Water is from the toilet!”

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